How to Bring the Wellness Movement to Your Clients and Employees
Wellness is a topic on everyone’s mind these days. From healthy eating to stress relief to spending time with family and friends, we’re trying to figure out how to fit everything in our overcrowded schedules. Whether you’re implementing a wellness program or looking for tips to make manageable changes, these ideas can help you improve the overall wellness of your clients and employees.
Expand Your Horizons (and Healthy Options)
What does healthy mean to you? So many delicious foods can be part of a balanced, healthy diet. Focus on the nutrients foods provide, so you can experience an array of tastes, flavors and textures. Experiment with different preparation methods to find what you like best and discover new favorites.
Show your employees and clients healthy alternatives by hosting a nutritious cookout. Instead of the usual fare, serve vegetable burgers, grilled chicken, watermelon steaks, kale chips and fruit-infused water.
Provide a variety of healthy snacks in the office, from nuts and seeds to cheese and fruit. Surprise employees with fresh fruit and coffee for breakfast one morning, or pass out trail mix for a healthy energy boost before a mid-afternoon meeting.
Ask your employees to share their favorite healthy recipes at a potluck. You’ll be surprised at the tasty dishes – and stories – your staff will bring. You’ll be introduced to a vegetable side dish that has travelled with a family for generations, or a decadent (and healthy) dessert that was discovered on a trip to a tropical paradise. Provide a mouthwatering smoked turkey breast for the main course or order a vegetarian option from a local restaurant.
Look Locally
Speaking of local, look around your community for inspiration. Tap into the farm-to-table movement by giving away tickets to a local farm-to-table dining experience. Invite a nutritionist to speak to your staff about making healthy choices on a budget or fitting nutrition into a jam-packed schedule, and take a field trip to a local farmers’ market.
Startups and small businesses are bringing innovation to the food industry, so invite local companies to share how they’re changing the way food is manufactured, delivered, packaged and consumed. Tour a local company’s operations, sample their products or try their services. Look for opportunities to collaborate, so your employees and clients can benefit.
Provide a health and wellness corner (i.e. bulletin board, dry erase board, chalk painted wall) to showcase wellness topics. Encourage your staff to highlight local healthy restaurants, farmers’ markets, meditation classes and fitness centers/events.
Get Moving
Fitness is an important part of a healthy lifestyle or wellness program. It’s true that you can’t outrun a poor diet over the long run, but exercise provides many health benefits outside of weight loss.
Hold walking meetings when the weather allows, and encourage your employees to get up throughout the day and move around. Install standing desks if you have the budget, or designate an area where groups can discuss projects or solve problems while taking a break from sitting.
Host or sponsor a 5K or Fun Run at your company, or encourage employees and clients to participate in one. These events are a healthy way to spend a Saturday morning, foster comradery and usually support a cause or charity. Provide runners with healthy, post-race snacks or an individually wrapped sweet treat.
Indulge, Don’t Settle
When you do crave a sweet treat, indulge in high quality, gourmet treats made with the finest ingredients. Individually wrapped sweet treats offer numerous benefits, including portion control, food safety and portability. Offer them as a surprise treat at your next meeting, or as a reward to your staff for a job well done.
Single gift boxes make excellent table favors, room gifts and sensible snacks at conferences and events. Attendees can enjoy them throughout their visit or easily take them home. Clients will appreciate a small, special treat to thank them for their continued business.
Meeting with a client to discuss projects and ideas? Order a delicious tasting event kit! Whether you go with the Chocolate Lovers, Nut Lovers or Individually Wrapped kit, your clients will taste the exceptional quality and want to add food gifts to their programs and events.
Explore Food Experiences
Have you noticed a trend throughout this article? From cookouts and potlucks to farmers’ markets and farm-to-table dinners, seek out food experiences. Food isn’t an evil necessity; it’s the fuel that powers us through our days. Explore food experiences as often as you can instead of grabbing something from the vending machine or drive-thru.
Have lunch with your colleagues, employees and clients, so you can learn more about them. There’s something special about sharing a meal with someone.
Learn more about the food you eat. Where does it come from? How does it end up on your plate? There are some amazing stories and people behind what you eat.
So, remember to expand your horizons (and healthy options), look locally, get moving, indulge occasionally and explore food experiences. And always, thank a farmer!
Walking the Wellness Walk
At Maple Ridge Farms, we know all about indulgence—after all, it’s our specialty—but we also value a culture of health and wellness awareness supported by a team mentality. We recently completed a 12-week wellness challenge with a 76% participation rate. (Not bad, especially given that the Department of Labor reports participation for incentivized programs at a median of 40%!)
By offering multiple challenges for participants to choose from, we ensured that there was an option to suit every fitness level and goal, and fostered a competitive spirit without being exclusionary. It was such a success that it’s becoming an annual tradition—one we look forward to as we support each other in healthful practices now and in the future.
